Everybody was expecting this but now it’s official. Jean Belinski was one of the Council members I disagreed with most over the past two years, in third place after Dave DiGi and Eric Evans, so I’m glad this will be an open seat race.

Hoping 4 young progressives manage to take the seats now held by DiGi, Evans, Belinski, and whoever wins the Reynolds/ Donchez primary.

We need an across the board increase in Social Security retirement benefits of 20% or more. We need it to happen right now, even if that means raising taxes on high incomes or removing the salary cap in Social Security taxes.

The 401(k) experiment has been a disaster, a disaster which threatens to doom millions to economic misery during the later years of their lives. Proposals to improve our system of private retirement savings — even good ones — will offer little to no help for the baby boomers who are currently nearing retirement, and are also unlikely to be of sufficient help for current younger workers. We need to increase Social Security benefits, now and in the future. It’s the only realistic way to provide people with guaranteed economic security and comfort post-retirement.

Pennsylvania Health Access Network says Tom Corbett and the Teahadists’ rejection of $43 billion in free federal money over 10 years will deprive 700,000 people of health insurance:

Today Governor Corbett did not appropriate federal funds in his proposed budget that have already been allotted to Pennsylvania to offer health care coverage to approximately 700,000 working families.

Pennsylvania has the opportunity to accept new federal funding to extend health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of hardworking Pennsylvanians and reduce the state’s uninsured population by more than half. This opportunity would enable Pennsylvania to cover working adults making up to $15,415 for an individual or a family of four making $31,809.

Antoinette Kraus, Director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network made the follwoing statement in resposne to Governor Corbett not moving forward with Medicaid expansion at this time:

“Governor Corbett has the chance to bring coverage and health care security for hundreds of thousands of working Moms and Dads, all while stimulating our local economy, creating local jobs and saving Pennsylvania taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars currently spent each year to treat the uninsured emergency rooms. This is an opportunity the Commonwealth cannot afford to pass up. We urge our legislators make sure Pennsylvania doesn’t leave these new funds, the jobs they would create and the secure coverage they would provide, on the table.”

Pennsylvania will be able to bring in $43.3 billion in new Medicaid funds over the next ten years — money that will be injected directly into Pennsylvania’s economy and used to create jobs, relieve the burden on local hospitals and build our health care workforce.

- Oil company franchise tax uncapped over 5 years, will raise $1.8 billion

- Only $250 million for transit, despite billions required for state-of-good-repair. This is less bad because it could’ve been lower
or totally cleaved from the regular transportation budget like some rural GOoPers wanted

- $90 million in Basic Education Funding – increase of 1.7% over last year, for total of $5.5 billion

- $1 billion 4-year block grant to school districts contingent on alcohol reform. Seeing a lot of people complaining about this because the grant ends. Why? Take the money and then top up Basic Education. We can do both!

Of course, the idea of a trust fund “asset” is controversial, since this is money the government owes itself. Trust funds are not assets to the federal government because the assets of any given fund are offset by liabilities owed by the Treasury Department; their net value to the federal government is zero. However, the Social Security Trust Fund is an asset for the Social Security Administration. That is, it represents a legitimate claim on the treasury backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Beyond this, if you believe that the nation’s debt is $16.3 trillion and counting, it is inconsistent to deny that trust fund balances (which compose about 30% of the debt) are real.

When the Social Security program has a cash deficit, the Social Security Trustees request repayment for some of the Treasury securities they purchased when the program was in surplus (when payroll tax revenues were greater than the cost of benefits). Since the government is currently in deficit, the Treasury Department must borrow money to finance these payments. However, the new borrowing does not increase total debt because this transaction is more akin to refinancing existing debt than accumulating new debt.

If you owe a $5,000 credit card bill and you take a home equity loan to pay off the credit card, your total debt has not changed; you have refinanced the debt, transferring it from one financial instrument (and one creditor) to another. Much the same can be said about repaying the OASDI Trust Fund. The fund’s assets are composed of debts already accounted for as part of the nation’s total debt. When the Treasury borrows to pay current Social Security benefits, the debt owed to the Social Security Trust Fund is repaid, refinanced, and transferred to whoever purchases Treasury securities.

Of course, the cost of refinancing the debt is a key concern. However, the only scenario in which repaying the Social Security Trust Fund can increase the nation’s debt is if interest rates are higher now than they were when the original debt was incurred. Given current market conditions (nominal interest rates are presently quite low, the rate on 10 year Treasury Bonds is around 2%), the more plausible claim is that refinancing the Social Security Trust Fund’s debt has reduced the nation’s debt slightly by reducing interest costs.

Bernie O’Hare has the John Callahan finance report and it turns out he’s been raising money like he’s running for Congress:

Bethlehem Mayor and NorCo Exec hopeful John Callahan has filed his 2012 campaign finance report, and it’s a doozy. He raised a whopping $197,289 last year, and after payments to political consultant and Finance Director Rachel Doran, still finished the year with nearly $118,000 in his till.

Shock and awe baby. After seeing how much money Callahan raises, potential opponents think twice about taking him on.

Callahan has nearly three times what rival Glenn Reibman has set aside, and is ahead of potential opponent Lamont McClure by 8 to 1.

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